Tales From The Frontline – Force vs Flow

Being a small, self-funded start up is not for the faint of heart. I’ll be taking my first significant vacation in 5 years tomorrow and I thought it would be great to discuss the importance of stepping back sometimes and just letting things flow.

When you’re starting up, you do whatever it takes to move things forward, which often equates to long hours, working in the evening and surrendering your weekends, not to mention your social life. In my younger years, this was no problem, I had all the energy in the world and no other major outside demands on my time.

Getting married and having kids fundamental changed how I view and value my time. Before these fortunate events, time was abundant and free to be utilized, and in retrospect, squandered on whatever I saw fit. My solution to a lot of things was that if 100 percent wasn’t doing it then just give it 150 percent, just try harder.

But what I’ve learned is that simply working more or working harder is not always the right answer for moving things forward.

On the scale of self motivation, I run of the end of the scale and keep on going. I’m a big believer that if you want something to happen, then what are you waiting for, make it happen.

What I’ve learned is the difference between force and flow. Force is about making something happen on your personal time frame, your way and stubbornly forging ahead regardless of what lies in your path. Flow is about coaxing thing along to the best of you ability but allowing things to take a more natural course and time frame and realizing that you just have to let things unfold in there own way sometimes.

I’ve seen first hand how the different approaches work and what I’ve found more often than not is that flow tends to be much more effective and a heck of a lot less stressful on you and those around you.

As I set of in my first vacation in 5 years, I plan on enjoying it ( and boy do I deserve it!). I really think stepping away from things for a bit will help me recharge my batteries and gain a new perspective on things. Sometimes stepping back can allow you to move forward. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.